DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This office correspondence is in response to the Election/Restriction filed on July 27, 2026. Claims 1-20 and 28-36 are canceled. Applicant elects Group 1: claims 21-27, and 37-40 without traverse. In addition, claims 41-47 are newly added, which are also elected.
Claims 21-27, and 37-47 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/14/2025 and 08/08/2025 was filed after the mailing date of the instant application dated 01/02/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 21-27 and 37-47 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. (US Publication 2021/0119879) hereafter Zhang, in view of Cui et al. (US Publication 2023/0120629) hereafter Cui.
As per claim 21, Zhang discloses a method, comprising: receiving, by a data orchestration network element, a first service request message (abstract, paragraphs 49, 119: receive request for allocation of network resources); determining, by the data orchestration network element based on requirement information and one or more pieces of data service capability information, at least one data agent network element and respective operation configuration information corresponding to each of the at least one data agent network element, wherein the requirement information indicates a service requirement that is on first data and that is determined based on a service requested by using the first service request message, the one or more pieces of the data service capability information are in one-to-one correspondence with one or more data agent network elements, the at least one data agent network element is at least one of the one or more data agent network elements, the requirement information corresponds to at least one of the one or more pieces of the data service capability information, and the respective operation configuration information corresponding to each of the at least one data agent network element indicates a respective operation performed by each of the at least one data agent network element on the first data (Fig. 8, paragraphs 124-125, 139-140: the orchestrator configured to obtain fist resource information using first domain); and sending, by the data orchestration network element, the respective operation configuration information (paragraphs 53-55, 139-140: generate first configurations data according to the isolation policy and send the information from the orchestrator). Although, Zhang discloses …. but do not expressly disclose the requirement information corresponds to at least one of the one or more pieces of the data service capability information.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Cui discloses the claimed limitation of the requirement information corresponds to at least one of the one or more pieces of the data service capability information, and the respective operation configuration information corresponding to each of the at least one data agent network element indicates a respective operation performed by each of the at least one data agent network element on the first data (paragraphs 23-25, 56).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate Cuis’ teaching of orchestrating allocation of network resource utilizing QoE with Zhang. One would be motivated to adjust and allocate network resources in the network orchestration and automation for network and resource optimization to improve end user experience.
As per claim 22, Zhang discloses the method wherein the first service request message requests an application service or a service service (paragraphs 121, 141).
As per claim 23, Zhang discloses the method wherein the first service request message is from a service request network element, and the method further comprises: receiving, by the data orchestration network element, a first verification response message from a trust anchor, wherein the first verification response message indicates that the service request network element has permission to access the first data (paragraphs 132, 141-142).
As per claim 24, Zhang discloses the method wherein the first service request message is from a service request network element, and the method further comprises: sending, by the data orchestration network element, first communication information, wherein the first communication information indicates information about a data agent network element that is in the at least one data agent network element and that directly communicates with the service request network element (paragraphs 142-143).
As per claim 25, Zhang discloses the method wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the data orchestration network element, the data service capability information corresponding to the one or more data agent network elements (paragraphs 141-142).
As per claim 26, Zhang discloses the method wherein the requirement information corresponds to a data service task identifier (abstract, paragraphs 7, 35-37).
As per claim 27, Zhang discloses the method wherein the method further comprises: sending, by the data orchestration network element to one or more of the at least one data agent network element, at least one of updated information about a data security and privacy protection technology repository or updated information about an analytics tool repository (paragraphs 132, 142-143).
Claim 37 is an Independent claim with similar limitation but different in preamble and hence are rejected based on the rejection provided in claim 1.
As per claim 38, Zhang discloses the method wherein the first service request message is for requesting an application service or a service service (paragraphs 121, 141).
As per claim 39, Zhang discloses the method wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the service request network element, first communication information, wherein the first communication information indicates information about the data agent network element that directly communicates with the service request network element (paragraphs 132, 141-142).
As per claim 40, Zhang discloses the method wherein the method further comprises: processing, by the service request network element, the first information, to obtain the application service or the service service (paragraphs 121, 141-142).
Claim 41 is an Independent claim with similar limitation but different in preamble and hence are rejected based on the rejection provided in claim 1.
Claims 42-47 are listed all the same elements of claims 22-27 respectively. Therefore, the supporting rationales of the rejection to claims 22-27 apply equally as well to claims 42-47, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Fares et al. (US Publication 2020/0120494) discloses provided for augmenting the services of SM-DP and SM-DP+ based mobile network systems. These systems and methods enable securing, in advance of arrival at the mobile network system, connectivity services (e.g., limited, short or one-time) or long-term subscription for eSIM/iSIM capable devices/machines. Such connectivity services may be purchased or booked in advance from a local or foreign network operator with service to be activated immediately or at a point in the future. For example, a traveler to a foreign country can pre-purchase (at the travel booking stage) mobile connectivity for use during upcoming travel to a foreign network. The corresponding service can be activated at the time/date of arrival for the selected period.
BAI et al. (US Publication 2024/0305533) provides a framework that involves an intelligent resource planning engine and slice-aware radio resource scheduling module, signaling, and measurements to support this framework and algorithms for resource planning and slice-aware scheduling. In particular, a RAN slicing framework is described that encompasses a resource planning engine and distributed dynamic slice-aware scheduling modules at a NAN (e.g., DU). Algorithms for resource planning and slice-aware scheduling and signaling exchanges for the RAN slicing framework are also provided. This intelligent RAN slicing framework can provide more efficient and flexible resource allocation for slices with diverse SLA/QoS requirement. With resource allocation guidance provided for each network slice, the complexity (and thus, resource consumption) for slice-aware scheduler can be greatly reduced. The various example implementations discussed herein may be included in future specifications/standards published by industrial alliance such as [O-RAN], [ISEO], 3GPP, ETSI, and/or the like. In addition, the embodiments herein can include message exchanges between edge/cloud server(s)/node(s) and RAN nodes. In one example, the slice-aware scheduler discussed herein can be implemented as part of Intel® FlexRAN reference code.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARZANA B HUQ whose telephone number is (571)270-3223. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 8:30-5:30 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Emmanuel L Moise can be reached at 571-272-3865. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FARZANA B HUQ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2455
